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What Are Museums For?
The days when museums were dusty, stuffy institutions displaying their wealth and wisdom to a reverential public are over. Museums today are a cultural battleground. Who should decide what is put on display and how it is presented? Who gets to set the narrative?
In this passionately argued book, Jon Sleigh maintains that museums must be for all people and inclusion must be at the heart of everything they do. But what does good inclusion look like in practice? Cleverly structured like a museum tour, Sleigh uses seven illustrative museum objects from seven very different museums to explore such wide-ranging issues as trust-building, representation, digital access, conflicting narratives, removal from display and restitution.
In this passionately argued book, Jon Sleigh maintains that museums must be for all people and inclusion must be at the heart of everything they do. But what does good inclusion look like in practice? Cleverly structured like a museum tour, Sleigh uses seven illustrative museum objects from seven very different museums to explore such wide-ranging issues as trust-building, representation, digital access, conflicting narratives, removal from display and restitution.
146 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 25, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 12, 2025
An interesting book that gets you thinking about the purpose of museums and of curation in general. Just as important as what objects are placed in museums are the narratives and information which reflect how the object fits in to a person's understanding of the world. It is said that the origin of the museum is rooted in colonialism and in quantity and volume more like an emporium than anything else. The book aims to explain the need for museums adapt to the times constantly and for each person to truly have a stake in the museum experience.
I appreciate the book mentioning the importance of engagement from as much of society as possible with museums, not everyone feels like they can engage with a museum which is something that certainly needs to change and is changing (the COVID pandemic forced things to be online and consequently more accessible).
The book is a bit repetitive about the issues that museums struggle with but this repetition also hammers home the inescapability of some of the issues that museums as institutions face.
I appreciate the book mentioning the importance of engagement from as much of society as possible with museums, not everyone feels like they can engage with a museum which is something that certainly needs to change and is changing (the COVID pandemic forced things to be online and consequently more accessible).
The book is a bit repetitive about the issues that museums struggle with but this repetition also hammers home the inescapability of some of the issues that museums as institutions face.
December 17, 2024
Interesting, but a bit dry.
December 29, 2025
Great little entry into museum theory.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews